Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize and Tony award-winning drama
August: Osage County takes an intimate look at a seriously dysfunctional family and its varied, often disturbing, dynamics. The Repertory Theatre St. Louis lays the troubled family’s turbulent relationships and dark secrets bare in a stunning production that is, frankly, the most compelling and captivating interpretation of the script I’ve ever seen.
Beverly Weston, a professor and once promising poet, and his wife Violet have been married for a long, contentious time. Their brief exchanges drip with vitriol and disdain and each has found solace in addiction. Beverly has a penchant for alcohol and waxing philosophically about poets and verse. Violet has developed a taste for prescription-induced oblivion. Still, it’s somewhat surprising when Beverly hires Johnna Monevata as a live-in caretaker and shortly thereafter disappears.
One by one, the family gathers by Violet’s side in concern for (and curiosity about) the missing patriarch. Daughter Ivy, who lives nearby and is a regular, often relied-upon presence, is first to arrive. Violet’s sister Mattie Fae and her husband Charlie arrive next; their son Little Charles arrives later. Headstrong daughter Barbara, her estranged husband Bill and pot-smoking 14-year-old daughter Jean fly in from Colorado and, eventually, self-absorbed daughter Karen and fiancé Steve arrive from Florida. Soon, micro-aggressions, manipulations and secrets begin to flow as the family boards an acrimonious, emotionally charged rollercoaster. There’s a feudalistic nature to the family dynamic and nothing and no one, not even the calm and capable Johnna, is able to steer them away from the inevitable multitude of explosive collisions.
Ellen McLaughlin is mesmerizing as the often incoherent, yet all-knowing Violet. Henny Russell counters her as the commanding, controlling Barbara and Shyla Lefner is an unexpectedly compassionate Johnna. Claire Karpen is sympathetic as Ivy, a wallflower with a longing to bloom and a secret, uncomfortably close relationship with her cousin Little Charles.
Michael James Reed and Isa Venere are well cast as Barbara’s philandering husband and neglected daughter. Sean Wiberg is reserved and uncertain as Little Charles and Astrid Van Wieren’s Mattie Fae and Alan Knoll’s Charlie spar and bicker like lesser versions of Violet and Beverly. Yvonne Woods is stubbornly resolute as Karen while Brian Slaten is callously creepy and privileged as her fiancé Steve. Rounding out the cast, Joneal Joplin is perfectly suited as the loquacious, inebriated Beverly and David Wassilak is amiable as Deon Gilbeau, the local sheriff who still carries a torch for Barbara.
Alcoholism, addiction, drug use and abuse, infidelity, predatory sexual behavior, incest and a myriad of family secrets feature prominently, and the intensity may be triggering for some. The script’s excess feels emotionally manipulative at times as the characters avoid serious consequences or redemption. Thankfully, the Rep’s excellent production leans into the dark humor and avoids over-the-top melodrama.
In addition to Amelia Acosta Powell’s excellent direction, fight direction by Michael Pierce and intimacy direction by Will Bonfiglio and Rachel Tibbetts enhance this often troubling and emotionally laden production. Captivating performances by McLaughlin, Russell, Karpen and Lefner anchor a well-connected and committed cast and Powell emphasizes naturalism and restraint in a drama that nonetheless feels exploitive in many ways.
Whether you’re a devoted fan of Letts’ dysfunctional family or a more skeptical and bruised observer like me, the Rep’s seething, darkly funny August: Osage County proves well worth the time and discomfort.
[content-1] [content-2] [content-3]
Subscribe to Riverfront Times newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed 
Most Popular
Comments / 0